Chapter 104: On the Warship (Part-3)

Bai Ye was already a nine-star Upper Elite, widely acknowledged as the number one genius of the thirty-six cities. If Ryan was stronger than him, then how terrifying was his true strength?

At that moment, everything made sense.

People like Ryan were not to be provoked.

“I understand now,” the candidate said, swallowing hard.

“Good,” Ren Tianyu replied, his voice low.

Meanwhile, after Ren Tianyu left, Bai Ye turned back to Ryan with a smile. “Brother Li, it’s good to see you again.”

The candidates from Lingyin City also cupped their fists politely toward Ryan.

“What brings you here?” Ryan asked calmly.

“If we hadn’t come,” Bai Ye chuckled, “that Ren fellow might’ve been beaten into a pig’s head, just like we were before.”

Ryan waved a hand dismissively. “Let’s not talk about that.”

Bai Ye laughed again, then grew a little more serious. “To be honest, Brother Li, I didn’t come only to smooth things over. I wanted to ask you something.”

“About what?” Ryan asked.

“About the Western Mansion entrance examination,” Bai Ye said. “Brother Li, how much do you know about it?”

Ryan shook his head. “To be honest, little to nothing.”

Aside from knowing that there was an entrance exam after the qualification test, he knew almost nothing else. Wang Zongyao hadn’t gone into details.

Bai Ye smiled faintly. “Then, if Brother Li has time, would you be willing to hear me explain what the Western Mansion entrance exam is really like?”

He looked at Ryan steadily, his tone sincere. “Hmm?”

Ryan paused, then nodded. “Alright. Sit and talk.”

At first, he had planned to refuse. After all, he was not particularly interested in idle conversation. But when his gaze swept over Li Wujie and the others behind him, he changed his mind.

His father, Li Gengxin, had made his intentions clear. Ryan was not meant to walk into Western Mansion alone. He was expected to help the Li Clan’s promising disciples rise together. If that was the case, then understanding the Western Mansion entrance examination in advance was not just useful, it was necessary.

After agreeing, Ryan returned to his previous seat.

Wang Bi’er, Mu Xianling, and Zhu Yin immediately followed, each taking a place beside him as if by unspoken agreement. For a moment, it looked like a battlefield without weapons, three women quietly competing for territory.

In the end, Mu Xianling sat on Ryan’s left, Wang Bi’er on his right, and Zhu Yin settled beside Wang Bi’er once again. Their expressions were calm, but the invisible tension in the air was thick enough to cut.

Bai Ye shook his head helplessly and sat down opposite Ryan. Without wasting time, he went straight to the point.

“Brother Li, let me start with some numbers.”

“Last year, in the thirty-six cities of the North District, more than seven hundred people took the qualification test, similar to this year. The average level was slightly lower than now, but the number of top-tier candidates was actually higher.”

Bai Ye paused. A trace of bitterness flashed across his eyes.

“But during the entrance examination, one hundred and sixty-six people from the North District died. Two hundred and twenty-three were seriously injured. The remaining couldn’t make it. In the end, only seven people passed the exam and entered Western Mansion.”

“And those seven?” Ryan frowned.

Bai Ye sneered faintly. “And even of those seven… every single one of them was heavily injured, ranked at the very bottom, and received no real training or resources. They were pushed to the margins of Western Mansion, barely better than outsiders.”

The moment his words fell, the surrounding area went silent.

Ryan, Li Wujie, Mu Xianling, and the others all showed expressions of shock.

They had heard that the Western Mansion entrance exam was cruel, but none of them expected it to be this cruel.

More than seven hundred candidates, only seven passed.

A pass rate of one percent.

Worse still, over three hundred people were either killed or crippled. Nearly half of the participants from the North District never walked away intact.

“This… is that real?” someone muttered.

Seeing their expressions, Bai Ye continued coldly, “Across the entire Western Region, including the East, West, South, and our North District, there are around ten thousand candidates who take the entrance exam each year.”

“About three thousand each from the East, West, and South. Our North District?” Bai Ye laughed self-mockingly. “Only around seven hundred.”

“Why so few? Because the North District is a fringe land. The headquarters looks down on us. Our original fifteen hundred slots were cut down year after year, until now, we barely have half left.”

“Yet from these ten thousand candidates, Western Mansion only accepts two hundred.”

“In other words, if you want to enter Western Mansion, you must fight your way into the top two hundred among ten thousand. Only then do you even qualify to step inside.”

A heavy pressure suddenly settled over the Fengyue City candidates.

They had already fought tooth and nail just to earn a qualification spot. Now they were being told that the real battlefield was ten times crueler.

Some people’s faces turned pale. Their confidence wavered.

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Li Baijie said after a moment. “Last year, our North District had plenty of eight- and nine-star Elites. Why did only seven people pass? What about the other hundred and ninety-three slots?”

“They were taken,” Bai Ye replied flatly.

“Taken?” Mu Xianling frowned. “By the other three districts?”

“Yes.”

Her expression darkened. “Then that means each of the other districts sent over sixty people into Western Mansion. That’s almost ten times our number. How is that fair?”

Bai Ye gave a cold smile. “Fair? You can call it unfair. Or you can call it reality.”

He turned his gaze to Ryan. “Brother Li, do you know why I’m telling you all this?”

Ryan shook his head calmly. “Go on.”

“The reason only seven from the North District passed,” Bai Ye said slowly, “was not because of policy, and not because we were weaker.”

“It was because we were targeted.”

The words hit like a thunderbolt.

Before anyone could respond, Bai Ye continued, “The total number of deaths from the East, West, and South combined was less than eighty. Less than half of our death toll. Meanwhile, the number of seriously injured from those three districts was about the same as ours.”

“Does that tell you nothing?”

A wave of anger rippled through the crowd.

“So we were hunted?”

“They deliberately killed candidates from the North District?”

“No wonder our admission rate keeps dropping every year…”

“Is there no one in Western Mansion who manages this?” someone demanded.

“Manage?” Bai Ye laughed bitterly. “How would they manage it? Death in the entrance exam is officially considered a matter of insufficient strength. Fierce competition, life-and-death struggle… that’s exactly what Western Mansion wants to see. Why would they interfere?”

Silence followed.

Painful, but undeniable.

Ryan finally spoke, his voice steady. “I understand the situation. So what do you want us to do?”

Bai Ye looked at him, clasped his hands together, and said solemnly, “Unite.”

“United?” Ryan repeated, a trace of curiosity flickering across his eyes.

“Yes,” Bai Ye said firmly. “Right now, the North District is already at a numerical disadvantage compared to the other regions. If we don’t unite, we won’t stand a chance at all. If we do unite, at least there is still hope. I’ve made everything clear. Under the suppression of the three major regions, if we scatter and fight on our own, the chances of entering Western Mansion are slim. Even if someone manages to get in, they’ll only be crushed and sidelined.”

“I refuse,” Ryan replied without the slightest hesitation.

Bai Ye froze. “Then it’s settled—wait, what? You refuse?”

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